Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Cleaning vs. knitting

There is a terrible thing happening in my house and that is: cleaning.

Normally I am quite relaxed about cleaning. I care about the surfaces on which I prepare food, and I like my clothes to be fresh, and if I find myself walking over crumbs on the floor I will address them, but I don't typically worry about vacuuming until I notice dust bunnies commuting en masse to their manufacturing job across the room.

There are certain things though that do prompt me to clean in a big way, the kind of way that leads to redecoration that includes painting etc. It's not that bad yet. But there is just enough going on of the various factors that keep me from being able to sit down on the sofa with fiber to - well, keep me from sitting down on the sofa with fiber. And the worst? I'm kind of getting addicting to shiny bathroom tiles.

Oh how I miss the motivation of Christmas Knitting, when I could ignore everything and let the mail pile up because otherwise X would not have his/her present. Also, the TV programming was awesome. Lately, not so much.

Instead I have been going through things that cn't be ignored any longer, and the more you do that, the more you notice other things that can't be ignored any longer, and it goes on like the reflections in two mirrors that don't quite face each other.

And all the while you're finding things to put away that remind you what you'd rather be doing with this particular leisure time.

Looking through old knitting articles that might be timely for current projects

Playing with the vintage tool collection

Swatching out the idea that's been waiting more than a week now for your attention

3 comments:

I read this in one of the comments to a text on how to cut back housework in the latest TWIR over at Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/this-week-in-ravelry-comments/topics/1558672) and I must share it with you here: Dust is a protective covering for furniture.

You made me laugh with the image of dust bunnies "commuting en masse to their manufacturing job across the room" - it sure depicts reality very well! :)))

And let's not forget how much more satisfying it is to vacuum up commuting dust bunnies than it is individual loitering ones... but I've been giving up that small delight.

You know what is cool as an alternative? Filling a spray bottle with vinegar and spritzing it on tiles or taps. Rinse it off after a few minutes (after scrubbing a bit, in situations that call for it) and you get so much of the shiny! It's stinky, but if you keep getting colds like I do that doesn't matter so much ;^)

You know, I've always wondered if some sort of magic is responsible for all those dust bunnies. I mean, it must be 'coz where do they all come from?! We live on the 5th floor and we still have them! Loads of them! They can't just spawn spontaneously ex nihilo. I'm sure there's something mysterious going on behind the wardrobes, under the beds and who knows where else...

And mine have a nasty habit of reducing their numbers once you take the vacuum cleaner out!